trail fact: Oldest female thru-hiker. Emma Gatewood, better known as "Grandma Gatewood," mother of 11 children and grandmother of 23, was 67 when she first hiked the Trail in 1955. She completed her second thru-hike in 1957, and became the first person to complete the Trail three times when she finished a section hike in 1964.

New Jersey
High Point

"Mr Madison, what you just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I've ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having heard it. I award you no points and may God have mercy on your soul."

Journal Entry 6.12.00
"6pm at the Gren Anderson Shelter. 18 miles today in the rain. I survived the thunderstorm last night. And no bears got to my food. My tent and much of my gear were totally soaked this morning (I had to set up my tent IN the rain). But I was happy to be alive. It was slow moving this morning in the rain. Then I met Fenway and Rushmore and after I passed them I got more energy. I stopped at the Worthington Bakery to find it closed. Then I tried to get a soda but the soda machine wouldn't take my dollar and boy was I upset. Then it poured for the last 3 miles to the shelter. I hope the rain stops and the sun comes out tomorrow."

Journal Entry 6.14.00
"3pm at the High Point Inn. Wow, what an experience I had yesterday. It rained all night at the shelter and I didn't start hiking until 9am. I had NO motivation to go out into the mist, rain, and fog. It was a slow day of hiking and all my gear was either wet or damp. I wound up running into 2 day-hikers on the trail - Masha and Kenny and they invited me back to their house for the night! I opened up the invitation to Missing Link and we all went home and it was AWESOME!!! They made the BEST dinner - pasta, bread, tons of cheese, and watermelon. Kenny lit a fire and Masha did our laundry. Such wonderful people! They had never met anyone who thru-hiked the entire trail before and were totally amazed that we had been hiking for over 3 months from GEORGIA to get here! They drove us back to the trail this afternoon after a fantastic Russian breakfast of potato pancakes. It was cold (50ºF), rainy and misty and being as it was late in the day Missing Link and I decided to bag it and we are now sharing a hotel room for the night. So here we are and it's so nice to be warm and dry! "

Journal Entry 6.15.00
"8:30pm at the Church of the Mountain Hostel in Vernon, NJ. 22 miles today from High Point. It was difficult peeling away from the comforts of the hotel, but we did it, and hit the trail at 8am. There are lots of people here - Goodwheels and Kara, Two-Stepper, L'Escargot, and Hedgehog. This hostel is so AWESOME! It is clean and spacious with a great kitchen and free laundry. Every church on the entire trail should have a hostel like this."

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